At any high school, faculty members are known to come and go as the years progress. This year, however, Buffalo Grove High School was in an unusual need for new faculty members.  After a long process of finding new staff, BG was left with a new variety of teachers roaming the hallways. 

This new medley consisted of first year teachers, veteran teachers and even some of the school’s very own alumni. Two of these brand new staff members, Hassan Waseem and Sean Jacobs, have already proven that the energy and passion of a first year teacher is simply one of a kind.

Since starting, Waseem has his mind set on making his students the best they can possibly be while in his class.

“My main goal as a teacher is to help students feel comfortable and welcome in expressing themselves at school,” Waseem said. 

According to Waseem, he believes most of his success has to do with the outstanding school culture. “I must say that BG has a wonderful school community,” Waseem said. “The students, the staff, and the parents all work together to bring out the best in us. I love the culture of learning that is here at BG.” 

Waseem has already started getting involved beyond the classroom as well. “I am already involved in the Media club and I am having a blast,” Waseem said. 

Aside from loving the school culture and engaging with the Media club, Waseem’s favorite part of being a teacher represents something much larger.

“I can easily say that my favorite part of teaching is my students,” Waseem said. “The important discussions and conversations we have in our classes are extremely valuable and I treasure them all.” 

Similar to Waseem, Jacobs also discovered early on in his life that he wanted to be an educator. Being a former Bison, Jacobs always knew he wanted to be a teacher here at Buffalo Grove. “The community is great, students and teachers are always super friendly to each other,” Jacobs said.

The first time for anything can be scary or nerve racking but being that we are already a couple weeks into the school year according to Jacobs he is getting the hang of it. “It’s a lot of work but it is super rewarding and feels good to see my students do well on quizzes and test,” Jacobs said. 

According to Jacobs, he is all about his students and their success as students and as people in general.

“Seeing the students every single day and making an impact on their lives is my favorite part of teaching,” Jacobs said.

According to Jacobs, he was impacted by many teachers here and that’s why he knew he wanted to be a teacher and come back.

Jacobs is looking forward to coaching in the winter for wrestling and track or baseball during the spring seasons as he was a Bison athlete playing those sports in his high school days. He also wants to get involved with the math team.

Though many things in the building have changed this year, from classrooms, to policies, to staff members, one thing stays the same each and every year: the community. Each teacher, whether a veteran, alumni, or new, knows and sees what it’s like to be part of the Bison community, and as these staff members explained, it doesn’t take long to figure out what makes Buffalo Grove so great.

“I want to have the same impact, if not better, on my students as my teachers had on me,” said Jacobs.